Starting on the pole for Sunday's Firestone Indy Lights series Long Beach 100 accomplished that feat.

Race cars went spinning and crashing behind him going down the main straight only seconds after the start of the race, and the Andretti Autosport driver from Colombia led all 41 laps in the timed race for his second consecutive series victory.

"I saw the crash in the mirror and I said, `Whoa, OK,"' Munoz said. "I watched two of my biggest competitors crash. I had to finish this race."

Before reaching the first turn of the race, caution flags were flying. The 10-car field went three-wide down the straight. Zach Veach, who qualified third, tried to make a run for second place on the outside of Jack Hawksworth, who qualified second and started on the outside of the front row.

Right at the kink in the straight, Hawksworth came up the track on Veach. His left rear tire rubbed with Veach's right front tire.

"We had a really good start," Veach said. "With Carlos ahead of me I had a pull, something that Hawksworth didn't have. Obviously he could tell in a way that I was gaining on him. I felt that we were going to get him going into Turn 1. I kept gaining on him and he kept trying to muscle me to the wall. At that point I was to a spot that I couldn't lift."

Veach went into the wall and Hawksworth slid across the track. He collected Peter Dempsey on the opposite side of the track.

"I thought I was clear on the inside for the first lap and when I came across there was a car there," said Hawksworth, who surrendered the series points lead. "It was my fault and I'm sorry to Zach and Peter for ruining their days. It was an awful weekend for me here in Long Beach."

Gabby Chavez of Colombia, who started behind Veach, avoided it all and finished second.

"I closed my eyes and hoped for the best," he said. "It's hard to tell who is at fault. They were really near the wall, and Zach touched the wall and just kind of bounced back onto Jack and then Jack went and got Peter as well. So it just kind of happened."

Smith Peterson teammate Sage Karam of Nazareth, Pa., who finished third, said he was lucky that he had crashed during Saturday's qualifying session and started last.

"I guess it's not so bad starting dead last," the 18-year-old said. "I was able to slow the car down. From there I put my head down."

The crash knocked the smallest Indy Lights field in the history of Long Beach down to seven cars. When Juan Pablo Garcia, running in second place, spun in Turn 1 of the 11th lap, Mikael Grenier hit the wall beside him, trying to avoid his teammates,

"I braked really late on that lap because Karam was pretty close and when I came out and saw my teammate into the wall I couldn't do anything," Grenier said.

That knocked the field down to five cars, of which four finished on the lead lap. The second full-course caution also shortened the race length to its one-hour time limit, four laps short of going a full 45.

"The main key is to not make any mistakes, and that's what I did," Munoz said. "I tried to stay away from the walls; not take any risks. I was trying to be consistent and not to push 100 percent, and it paid off."

With Munoz well ahead of Chavez, Karam made the only significant pass of the race, getting by Venezuela's Jorge Goncalvez for third place on the 25th lap.

"I was on Jorge, and made a pretty aggressive move going into Turn 8," he said. "It's kind of a last-minute decision. He kind of had a bad run coming out of (Turn) 6, so I saw an opportunity and I took it, and it ended up paying off getting on the podium."